[bernie]

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Anyone who wants to start playing poker should do their homework first. Even more rare than the royal flush is a player with no idea who starts playing and becomes a long-term winning player. Again, you need to do your homework first. You read a couple books, post and read on these forums, etc. To maximise your ability to learn and understand you must do some research first. Poker is not set up to be a trial and error game. It is easy to lose and get discouraged early on without the proper mind-set and education. Study up and know what you're getting into. Prepare yourself. They don't grab people off the streets and send them to Iraq. They train them first. Because of this training their chance to survive and be effective in times of war is increased exponentially. So, if you've trained yourself you should have an idea of what to expect. You should know that downswings happen to everyone. You should also know that over time the laws of probability will hold true (or at least close to it). If they are not you have leaks in your game that you have not identified.


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Many of them will also say that practice is much different than actually being there. You can read all you want about swings, but until you actually go through it, you don't really realize just how hard they can be. It's a huge psychological hurdle for most players even if they've 'read' and 'studied' about it prior. The ablility to play through those times is one of the biggest tests of a players ability, imo. It's what really weeds out the wannabes and think they are's.

I also believe it can be even harder to get used to if one plays live instead of online. Online, a bad swing that lasts for a month will run 4+ months live. 4+months of losing or breakeven play can be pretty harsh to get through. It will seem like forever. If you've never done it, it can really twist your brain the first pass though that jungle.

I do agree that study builds a great foundation, but nothing compares to experience. Especially when dealing with the reality of the swing psychologically when in the middle of it.

Don't underestimate the psychological part of the game.

b